Marijuana Users At A Higher Risk Of Dying From High Blood Pressure?

The results of a new study are making headlines with claims that marijuana users are connected to a three-fold higher risk of dying from hypertension (high blood pressure) than someone who doesn’t use marijuana.

There is one small catch to the findings of this new marijuana study. Namely, there are some limitations with the study’s findings. One of the more prominent being the fact that it defines a marijuana user as someone who has ever tried cannabis – even just one time. Most would agree there’s a big difference between someone who has tried marijuana once, someone who consumes it on special occasions, and someone who consumes it daily. Even with the limitations, however, the research conducted during the study did a nice job of focusing on how consuming cannabis can affect a person’s heart.

In addition to not doing a better job of defining who is considered a marijuana user based on the amount they consume, the study also didn’t really do any work regarding focusing on certain strains either. So, there’s still a lot of research to be done to hone in on more concrete and accurate results.

The lead author of the study, Barbara Yankey, released a statement on the findings of the new study.

“We found that marijuana users had a greater than three-fold risk of death from hypertension and the risk increased with each additional year of use.”

Her paper, which was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology yesterday examined over 1,200 people who were over the age of 20. Roughly 12 years ago, the researchers asked these 1,2000 individuals whether or not they had ever consumed marijuana. Those who answered “yes” were labeled as users and those who said “no” were considered non-users. The researchers then used data pulled from the US National Center for Health Statistics to find connections between marijuana use and causes of death.

The researchers determined marijuana users were 3.42 times more likely to die from high blood pressure than someone who had never used marijuana. What was perhaps more alarming was the fact that this number increased by 1.04 for every additional “year of use.”

The biggest problem with the findings of this research is what defines a marijuana user. The study itself has defined a marijuana user as anyone who said “yes” to trying marijuana. According to Live Science, a little more than half of Americans have admitted to trying some form of marijuana at some point in time in their life. Yet, only 14 percent defined themselves as a regular marijuana user, consuming at least once every month.

Do you have any thoughts on this new marijuana study and the connection to high blood pressure deaths? Sound off in the comments found down below.